Her native cycling habitat may be the relative bike nirvana of Copenhagen but Anne Hedensted Steffensen, Denmark's ambassador to the UK, claims to nonetheless enjoy braving the roads of her current home city.

"I enjoy cycling in London because it's often the quickest way to get around, although I am very well aware that I have to be careful in the traffic," she said. "It certainly helps me feel safe that the traffic in most parts of London is very slow."

That said, she is only too aware that decades of bike-focused, integrated transport planning in Denmark have given it a very different cycling culture: "For many Danes, cycling is a completely normal thing to do on a par with walking or brushing your teeth. In Britain, I sense that cycling is still to some extent seen as an activity for the few."

While Steffensen is, as you might expect, diplomatic about the differences, there is a more blunt approach from Tom Godefrooij of the Dutch Cycling Embassy, a Utrecht-based quango that aims to spread the wisdom from decades of bike-friendly policy in a country where almost a third of people cycle as their main means of transport.

While the UK has some good leisure routes for bikes, Godefrooij concedes, get on to the roads and it's a different matter: "The whole traffic environment is pervaded with the notion that cars come first. Cycling is perceived to be for the brave and adventurous, those who dare. Some streets and roads have occasional facilities, but it is clear that cycling is not considered as a fully fledged mode of transport."

To change, he argues, the UK must make cycling the default method for shorter trips, something that would involve not just safe lanes but ample bike parking and efforts to give cycling a more positive image: "Cycle facilities are not an add-on, but an integral part of the urban transport system."